The present invention relates generally to seats for mass transit vehicles such as railroad commuter cars and more particularly to walk-over seats for such vehicles.
A walk-over seat is one in which the seat back may be moved from the front end to the rear end of the seat to allow the seat passenger to face whichever direction he desires. Typically, a walk-over seat comprises a base having a pair of spaced-apart side members with a pair of parallel horizontal rods extending between the side members. At each side of the seat back are frontward and rearward elongated link members each having upper and lower ends. The upper end of each link member is connected to the seat back, typically near the bottom of the seat back. The lower end of each link member is pivotally mounted to a respective horizontal rod extending between the side members. This enables pivotal movement of a link member about the axis of its mounting rod and along a path extending between a first position, in which the link member extends angularly upwardly from the rod towards the front end of the seat, and a second position in which the link member extends angularly upwardly towards the rear end of the seat.
A problem arises on a walk-over seat when the seat back is impacted or hit from behind, causing the seat back to pivot forwardly about its pivotal axis, into the back of the occupants of that seat. Various latching structures have been devised in an attempt to prevent the seat back from pivoting forwardly when so impacted. However, various problems arise with these latching structures. Some of these problems are connected with the need to provide a fast and simple unlocking procedure to facilitate changing the position of the seat back when desired. Another problem is that the latch may be sprung or bent from its locking position when the latch is subjected to a large force as a result of an impact on the seat back.